Over the past three years, Britain’s local electricity network operators have made great strides in developing their relationships with communities in emerging local energy markets. Communities are integral to Britain’s energy future and can be ‘innovation partners’ to the networks and each other, as we transition a smarter, more decentralised and low-carbon energy system. Learn more by reading this report produced by our partner Regen.

Electricity Network Innovation Guide for Communities (2018)

This guide is for communities and local energy stakeholders who are interested in electricity network innovation to help them learn more about how our energy system is changing, about lessons from innovation trials, why these projects are important, and how they can get involved. This guide builds on The Rough Guide to Engaging Communities in Energy Network Innovation published in 2017.

Developed by ENA’s Distribution Network Operator (DNO) Stakeholder Best Practice Group in partnerhsip with RegenSW, this guide explores how Disitribution Network Operators can engage local communities in innovation and how communities can get themselves into the best position to grasp the opportunity.

ENA’s Electricity Storage Guide for Communities (2014)

Developed by ENA’s Distribution Network Operator (DNO) Stakeholder Best Practice Group in partnerhsip with RegenSW, this guide is aimed at community energy groups and independent developers looking to develop electricity storage projects, who want to know how to connect to the electricity network. It is an introduction to the area of electricity storage and refers to more detailed content where appropriate.

Fuel poverty

Fuel Poverty affects one in five households in London. Through the London Fuel Poverty Hubyou can find listings for the major fuel poverty support services available in each Borough.

The use of statistics can strengthen funding applications. One useful resource to help you prove your need for funding is this map of the multiple deprivation index, which highlights areas of deprivation. Please be advised that data is from 2015. Another useful resource is this post-code ‘look up’ tool which can give more deprivation data for up to 10,000 post codes at a time.

This fuel poverty calculator by the Centre for Sustainable Energy is a good resource, used by councils, housing associations, energy charities and community groups to help target services to support fuel poor residents.

BoilerBooker.com is a group booking website that helps reduce the cost of heating services for everyone and ensures safer, energy efficient housing.

lookaftermybills.com automatically switches you to the cheapest energy tariff. Another helpful site is My Utility Genius. However, not all the tariffs will necessarily be from providers of renewable energy – so be aware!

For Local Authorities

Further learning

This free online course from Future Learn will help you to understand how blockchain works, as well as the background, value proposition and geopolitical context that brought it to the centre of everyone’s attention.

The course will offer a clear overview of how and why blockchain will take over the energy sector, optimising old processes and empowering the customers like never before. This will create a new paradigm, where users can buy and sell energy from and to each other – making local and renewable energy an even more rewarding.

With more energy coming from renewable sources and a rising demand for stable energy supply, the world needs flexible energy storage. Batteries might be the answer.

On this free online course from Future Learn, you will learn about the applications of energy storage in different sectors including transport and power. You will examine the benefits of using battery energy storage for industrial products, like in underground mining. You will also discover the battery production supply chain.